Server group and group manager with support for location-based operations

ABSTRACT

A method of managing a server group comprising a plurality of group members in a server group may include receiving, from a group member, health status data and obtaining location data. The health status data may indicate a group member&#39;s status with respect to a health parameter. The set of health parameter states may include a compliant, borderline, and non-compliant state defined by one or more thresholds. The location information may indicate locations of the group members relative to one another. A status-location operation may be performed in accordance with the health status and location data to generate a display including, for each of the group members, a data point indicating a status for a particular health parameter and a location of the applicable group member relative to other group members. Historical status change data may be maintained and used to predict a next status change expected.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates in general to information handlingsystems, and more particularly to systems and method for managinginformation handling systems.

BACKGROUND

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individualsand businesses seek additional ways to process and store information.One option available to users is information handling systems. Aninformation handling system generally processes, compiles, stores,and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or otherpurposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of theinformation. Because technology and information handling needs andrequirements vary between different users or applications, informationhandling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled,how the information is handled, how much information is processed,stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the informationmay be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in informationhandling systems allow for information handling systems to be general orconfigured for a specific user or specific use including, asnon-limiting examples, financial transaction processing, airlinereservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. Inaddition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardwareand software components that may be configured to process, store, andcommunicate information and may include one or more computer systems,data storage systems, and networking systems.

Information handling systems may include a special purpose controller,referred to as a management controller, for performing system managementfunctions and an interface or analogous resources that enable a remotelylocated information handling system or resource to access the managementcontroller.

Servers and other types of information handling systems may beconfigured as a server group that encompasses one or more data centerfloors on one or more floors of one or more buildings at a particularfacility. Anecdotal evidence suggests that correlations between hardwareproblems and physical location are not uncommon, e.g., problemsassociated with environmental and/or electrical conditions present at aphysical location. Typically, however, servers and other informationhandling systems, including servers for use in data centers and otherdensely configured applications and environments, lack resourcesconfigured to provide location based information or make location-baseddeterminations.

SUMMARY

In accordance with the teachings of disclosed subject matter,disadvantages and problems associated with identifyinglocation-dependent health parameters are addressed.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, informationhandling systems and methods for managing a group of servers or otherinformation handling systems that include a plurality of group membersin a server group may include receiving, from one or more group members,health status data and obtaining location data. The health status datamay indicate a group member's status with respect to one or more healthparameters. The set of states for any health parameter may include acompliant (green) state, a borderline (yellow) state, and anon-compliant (red) state defined by one or more threshold values. Otherembodiments may include more or fewer states for any particular healthparameter. The location information may indicate locations of the groupmembers relative to one another.

A status-location operation may then be performed in accordance with thehealth status data and the location data. The status-location operationmay convey or depend upon a relationship between the health status dataand the location data. The status location operation may includegenerating a location-status display including, for each of the groupmembers, a data point indicating a status for a particular healthparameter and a location of the applicable group member relative toother group members.

Generating the location-status display may include accessingdistance-proxy data, i.e., data indicative of member-pair distances, fora plurality of member-pairs. Each member-pair distance corresponds to adistance between a particular pair of group members. Distance-proxy datamay include a ping response delay between two points, a wireless signalstrength between two points, or the like. Distance proxy data for eachpermutation of member pairs for which distance-proxy data is availablemay then be compared to resolve relative distances among the groupmembers. For example, by accessing and comparing distance-proxy data forthree member-pairs, including a first member pair comprising first andsecond members, a second member pair comprising first and third members,and a third member pair comprising the second and third members,relative distances among the first, second, and third members may beresolved.

By iterating these operations across distance-proxy data for allavailable member-pairs, relative distances among each of the groupmembers for which distance-proxy data is available may be determined.

Group snapshots indicative of the health status of the server group maybe recorded from time to time and the system may monitor for statuschange events that occur when a health parameter of a group memberchanges from one state to another. When a status change event isdetected, status change information corresponding to the event may berecorded. The status change information may include a state changeindicator that indicates whether the state change event was a positivechange or a negative change. From the current state of a server groupand the historical status change information corresponding to paststatus change events, a next change of the status change indicator maybe predicted using a decision tree methodology or another heuristictechnique. Based on the next predicted status change indicator, amanagement operation, including proactive action, corrective action, orthe like may be taken.

Health status data for health parameters may encompass any dataobtainable from a sensor or derived from one or more sensed parameters.Sensors may include thermal sensors, environmental sensors includingambient humidity and ambient air pressure sensors, mechanical sensorsincluding vibration sensors, accelerometers, gyroscopes, etc., opticalsensors, audio sensors, and so forth. Disclosed systems and methods maymaintain health status data for one or more electrical parametersincluding, as non-limiting examples, average, peak, and/or instantaneouspower, current, voltage, impedance, and/or capacitance; and one or morethermal parameters including, as non-limiting examples, ambient airtemperature, ambient device temperature, device junction temperature, oranother suitable thermal parameter.

The location data may be received from any of various sources including,GPS sensors when available, user provided input for parametersincluding, as non-limiting examples, a group member's building, floor,room, aisle, rack, and so forth, information provided via a query, andthe like. In at least one embodiment, location information includes linklocal proximity information obtained via a link local connection betweentwo or more group members. Link local proximity information may includeinformation indicative of a ping response time between two groupmembers, a signal strength of a local wireless signal such as aBluetooth low energy (BLE) signal or a WiFi signal from a wirelessaccess point.

Technical advantages of the present disclosure may be readily apparentto one skilled in the art from the figures, description and claimsincluded herein. The objects and advantages of the embodiments will berealized and achieved at least by the elements, features, andcombinations particularly pointed out in the claims.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are examples and explanatory and arenot restrictive of the claims set forth in this disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present embodiments and advantagesthereof may be acquired by referring to the following description takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencenumbers indicate like features, all FIGUREs illustrate systems andmethod in accordance with disclosed subject matter unless expresslyindicated otherwise, and wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates an information handling system platform including aserver group;

FIG. 2 illustrates the inclusion of location information within theinformation handling system platform of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a first location-status map;

FIG. 4 illustrates a second location-status map;

FIG. 5 illustrates a server group segment including a link localconnection;

FIG. 6 illustrates first data for resolving the relative locations ofmembers in the server group of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 illustrates second data for resolving the relative locations ofmembers in the server group of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 illustrates a method for managing a server group; and

FIG. 9 illustrates an information handling system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Preferred embodiments and their advantages are best understood byreference to FIGS. 1-9, wherein like numbers are used to indicate likeand corresponding parts.

For the purposes of this disclosure, an information handling system mayinclude any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operableto compute, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate,switch, store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, orutilize any form of information, intelligence, or data for business,scientific, control, entertainment, or other purposes. For example, aninformation handling system may be a server, a personal computer, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a consumer electronic device, anetwork storage device, or any other suitable device and may vary insize, shape, performance, functionality, and price. The informationhandling system may include memory, one or more processing resourcessuch as a central processing unit (“CPU”), microcontroller, or hardwareor software control logic. Additional components of the informationhandling system may include one or more storage devices, one or morecommunications ports for communicating with external devices as well asvarious input/output (“I/O”) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and avideo display. The information handling system may also include one ormore buses operable to transmit communication between the varioushardware components.

For the purposes of this disclosure, computer-readable media may includeany instrumentality or aggregation of instrumentalities that may retaindata and/or instructions for a period of time. Computer-readable mediamay include, without limitation, storage media such as a direct accessstorage device (e.g., a hard disk drive or floppy disk), a sequentialaccess storage device (e.g., a tape disk drive), compact disk, CD-ROM,DVD, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electricallyerasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), and/or flash memory; aswell as communications media such as wires, optical fibers, microwaves,radio waves, and other electromagnetic and/or optical carriers; and/orany combination of the foregoing.

For the purposes of this disclosure, information handling resources maybroadly refer to any component system, device or apparatus of aninformation handling system, including without limitation a generalpurpose processor or central processing unit, a service processor, abasic input/output system (BIOS), a bus, memory and other storageresources, I/O devices and/or interfaces, network interfaces,motherboards, and/or any other components and/or elements of aninformation handling system.

The terms “wireless transmissions” and “wireless communication” may beused to refer to all types of electromagnetic communications which donot require a wire, cable, or other types of conduits. Examples ofwireless transmissions which may be used include, but are not limitedto, short-range wireless communication technologies (e.g., proximitycard, Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID), Near Field Communication(NFC), BLUETOOTH, ISO 14443, ISO 15693, WiFi, or other suitablestandard), personal area networks (PAN) (e.g., BLUETOOTH and BLUETOOTHLOW ENERGY), local area Networks (LAN), wide area networks (WAN),narrowband personal communications services (PCS), broadband PCS,circuit switched cellular, cellular digital packet data (CDPD), radiofrequencies, such as the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1.9 GHz and 2.4 GHz bands,infra-red and laser.

For the purpose of this disclosure, “short-range wireless communicationstechnology” refers to any suitable communications transport, protocol,and/or standard allowing two or more suitably-configured devices tocommunicate via wireless transmissions provided that such devices arewithin approximately one meter of each other. Examples of short-rangecommunications technologies include, without limitation, BLUETOOTH Class3, near field communication (NFC), radio frequency identification(RFID), proximity card, vicinity card, ISO 14443, WiFi, and ISO 15693.

FIG. 1 illustrates an information handling system platform 100 suitablefor implementing a server group 110 and location-aware management of theserver group 110. The server group 110 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes aplurality of information handling systems 101. Each information handlingsystem 101 may represent a server or other suitable computer or systemthat includes a processor and a storage medium or memory in whichexecutable instructions may be stored to enable one or more desiredfunctions. Because the depicted platform 100 includes a server group110, the information handling systems 101 may be referred to herein asgroup members 101 and/or group member servers 101.

The group members 101 of server group 110 illustrated in FIG. 1 arefurther arranged in smaller groups referred to herein as group segments112, three of which are illustrated in FIG. 1. Group segments 112 mayrepresent subsets of the group members 101 of server group 110. In atleast one embodiment, group segments 112 may correspond to subsets ofgroup members 101 that share a proximity characteristic in addition toproximity based on membership in server group 110.

While all of the group members 101 of server group 110 may be located inrelatively close proximity to one another, group segments 112 mayinclude group members 101 that are still closer to one another. Forexample, an entity may operate data centers in different locations and aserver group 110 may include all servers associated with a particulardata center at a particular location. The particular data center mayspan multiple buildings or multiple floors of a particular building and,in this example, a group segment 112 may include all of the servers in aparticular building, all of the servers on a particular floor of aparticular building, all of the servers in a particular raised floorroom or partition, or some other subset of the data center. The serversin a particular group segment 112 may also share a functional proximityto one another. In at least one embodiment, as an example, groupsegments 112 may be defined by local links to which the servers areconnected.

The group members 101 of server group 110 may be configured to sense orderive one or more operational parameters, sometimes referred to hereinas health status parameters or health parameters. A group member 101 maymake its sensed parameter data available to one or more other systems byresponding to subscription requests indicating specific parameters andparticular recipients of the applicable information.

The server group 110 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a group manager 111.Group manager 111 may resemble other group members 101 of server group110 in terms of its processing capacity, storage capacity, and/or I/Ocapacity, but group manager 111 may be configured to define theinformation handling systems 101 that form a server group 110. Groupmanager 111 may also receive health status data 113 from group members101 and communicate group status data 118 to remote management resource120, which may be implemented as a cloud-based resource, as depicted inFIG. 1, or a premises-based resource.

FIG. 1 illustrates a trust relationship 122 established between remotemanagement resource 120 and group manager 111. Remote managementresource 120 may provide console-driven access to server managementresources for creating and applying hardware profiles to provision anddeploy servers and software as needed. Remote management resource 120may include features to obtain detailed information regarding aparticular network deployment and utilities to facilitate servermanagement tasks including server update tasks.

Group manager 111 may, either individually or in conjunction with remotemanagement resource 120, generate group status snapshots 121periodically or asynchronously, e.g., in response to health parameterstatus changes from one or more group members 101. Group statussnapshots 121 may include information indicative of an instantaneousstatus of the group members 101 in server group 110 across one or morehealth parameters. Some embodiments may generate some or all groupstatus snapshots 121 as differential snapshots indicating health statusinformation whose state has changed since the previous group statussnapshot. Group status snapshots 121 may be stored or otherwisepreserved in a suitable storage resource, not explicitly depicted inFIG. 1. The storage resource may include storage within remotemanagement server 120, storage within group manager 111 or network basedor cloud based storage resources not depicted.

FIG. 1 illustrates group manager 111 subscribing (114) to receive healthparameter information pushed from the applicable group member 101.Health parameters that group manager 111 may subscribe to receive fromgroup members 101 may include as non-limiting examples, thermalparameters, electrical parameters, and functional parameters.

In some embodiments, health data communicated to group manager 111 maybe raw or analog data, e.g., ambient chassis temperature (° C.) oraverage power consumption (W) over a given interval. In otherembodiments, health data may be communicated as status data indicatingone of a limited number of states for the applicable parameter(s) wherethe states are typically associated with one or more threshold values.To illustrate, some embodiments may employ three states for each healthparameter. The three states may include a normal state, a borderlinestate, and a non-compliant or out-of-limit state. The three states maybe associated with the green, yellow, and red colors of a conventionaltraffic signal to convey their respective meanings. The normal (GREEN)state may indicate normal operating conditions currently causing noconcern, a borderline (YELLOW) state may indicate a non-criticalwarning, while an out-of-limit (RED) state may signal a problemwarranting immediate corrective action.

As suggested previously, group members 101 of server group 110 may havea first degree of proximity while the group members in a group segment112 may share a second and greater degree of proximity. For example, thegroup members 101 within a group segment 112 may share “link level”proximity. Link level proximity may include the proximity shared betweentwo devices on the same local link of a particular network or subnetwork. Link level proximity may be shared among group members 101coupled to a common local area network (not specifically depicted inFIG. 1). Similarly, link level proximity may be shared by all groupmembers 101 communicating with a common wireless access point orcommunicating with a common device via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi as examples.

FIG. 2 illustrates information handling platform 100 including the useof location data 123 provided from server group 110. The location data123 illustrated in FIG. 2 may be provided to remote management resource120 in combination with the health status information 118 provided fromserver group 110 as described with respect to FIG. 1. FIG. 2 conveysthat, by providing the remote management resource 120 with location data123 in combination with health status information 118, remote managementresource 120, or another resource accessible or otherwise coupled toremote management resource 120, may be configured to performlocation-health operations, which may include any operation in which arelationship between location and health status is depicted or otherwiseconveyed as well as operations in which the location-health statusrelationship influences the result produced by the operation.

Location-health status operations include as one example,location-status map operations that provide an administrator or otheruser with a location-status map, described with respect to FIG. 3 andFIG. 4, graphically illustrating status information for a particularparameter for each of the group members, whereby each data point in themaps is positioned within the map to reflect the absolute or relativelocation of the applicable group member.

Location-health status operations may further include the use ofhistorical group status data and historical status change events, inwhich a status of one or more health parameters changes in one or moregroup members, to develop a status change predictor 124.

FIG. 3 illustrates a location-aware status map, referred to herein aslocation-status map 201, generated in accordance with at least someembodiments of information handling system platform 100. Thelocation-status map 201 illustrated in FIG. 3 includes a plurality ofdata points 203, each of which corresponds to a group member 101 in theserver group 110 of FIG. 1 and each of which indicates a status of theapplicable group member 101 with respect to a particular healthparameter.

The location-status map 201 illustrated in FIG. 3 conveys status of agroup member 101 by the shape and color or shading of the applicabledata point 203. Consistent with previously referenced embodiments of thehealth parameter states, the illustrated location-status map 201 employsthree levels of status, i.e., three states, for the applicable healthparameter. The three states into which each value of the applicablehealth parameter might be categorized include a normal state indicatedby data points having a first shape and/or a first color (e.g., green),a warning state indicated by data points having a second shape and/or asecond color (e.g., yellow), and a non-compliant or out-of-limitcategory indicated by data points having a third shape and/or a thirdcolor (e.g., red). When used in conjunction with a display or devicethat does not support color, the information conveyed by the colors maybe conveyed using gray scale shading or another suitable technique.

Although FIG. 3 illustrates a location-status map 201 that includesthree parameter states conveyed by square, diamond, and circular datapoints of green, yellow, and red (the colors are not explicitly conveyedby the gray shading of FIG. 3), other embodiments may employ more orfewer parameter states, different shapes, and different colors.

Although a location-status map 201 may represent any suitablehealth-status parameter, the location-status map 201 of FIG. 3represents a thermal status of the parameter T_(D) (device temperature)for each of the group members represented by a data point 203. Theparticular thermal parameter illustrated in FIG. 3 is an example, otherthermal parameters may be used in other location-status maps. Thermalparameters that might be associated with location-status map 201include, as non-limiting examples, ambient air temperature within achassis of the applicable group member 101, a junction temperature of aparticular chip or device, a fan output temperature corresponding to thetemperature in proximity to a heat fan included in the chassis or anyother suitable thermal parameter, at least some of which may beindicated by a temperature sensor and at least some of which may beestimated based on one or more sensed temperatures in combination withone or more other parameters.

In addition to conveying a status of a particular thermal parameter, theposition of each data point 203 included in location-status map 201conveys the site location x-y coordinates of the corresponding groupmember 101 (FIG. 1). In this manner, the illustrated location-status map201 conveys the relative physical or geographic locations of the groupmembers 101 represented by each data point 203. Thus, each data point203 may be positioned within location-status map 201 according to thex-y coordinates of the application group member 101.

In at least one embodiment, the x-y coordinates may be determined or atleast partially determined using a link level determination of distancefrom a fixed point such as the fixed point corresponding to groupmanager 111. In these embodiments, a link level parameter might includea response time required to ping a neighboring group member from thefixed point group member or a strength of a local wireless signal suchas a BLE signal.

In at least some embodiments, the x-y coordinates indicating therelative physical location of group members can be derived from a set ofattributes. These attributes may include latitude and longitudecoordinates from GPS sensors, user-specified server location including,for example, latitude and longitude coordinates and any other indicatorlike building identification and floor identification if a serverlocation topology does not preexist, at the time of onboarding.Information of this type may be leveraged by a suitable query entitythat is aware of rack servers and capable of sharing their identifiers.The query entity may publish its services to the applicable group andthe group's master node may subscribe to receive notifications from thisservice to identify server enclosures in the network. Other sources ofinformation from which the relative location of a group member may bederived include proximity detection making use of a BLE stack andtraceroute information reflecting traceroute response from group masterto members.

By conveying health parameter status information and relative locationinformation, location-status map 201 beneficially enables networkadministrators to recognize location-dependent health status traits ofgroup members 101 in a server group 110. For example, thelocation-status map 201 of FIG. 3 illustrates a small concentration ofdata points 203 in region 205-1 exhibiting a borderline (yellow) statusand a small concentration of data points 203 in region 205-2 exhibitinga non-compliant (red) status. The two corresponding regions 205 oflocation-status map 201 are located at opposite ends of a larger region205-3 of normal status data points 203.

The location-status map 201 readily conveys the presence of two distinctissues with respect to the health parameter of interest. The groupmembers corresponding to the data points 203 in first region 205-1 areclearly evidencing location-dependent behavior that is resulting in amoderate departure from normal operating conditions while the groupmembers corresponding to the data points 203 in second region 205-2 areequally clearly evidencing location-dependent behavior that is resultingin an even greater departure from normal operating conditions. One ofordinary skill in the applicable field would appreciate that, in theabsence of x-y coordinate data conveyed by location-status map 201, thedistinction between the group members within region 205-1 and the groupmembers within region 205-2 may have been more difficult to identify oroverlooked entirely.

FIG. 4 illustrates a second example of a location-status map 201. Thelocation-status map 201 of FIG. 4 conveys status information for asecond health parameter, different than the first parameter representedin the location-status map 201 of FIG. 3. The second parameter may be,as a non-limiting example, any of various electrical parametersassociated with the group members 101 corresponding to each data point203. The electrical parameter represented in the location-status map 201of FIG. 4 may be an operating current parameter, a voltage parameter, apower parameter, an impedance parameter, and so forth. Any of theseparameters might be sensed and/or determined as a peak or average valueover an interval of time or as an instantaneous value.

Again, as in the location-status map 201 of FIG. 3, by conveying theapplicable health parameter with x-y coordinate information, thelocation-status map may convey behavior that correlates strongly withthe location or x-y coordinate information, thereby facilitating abetter understanding of the nature of any given condition and promotinga more appropriate course of action or courses of action. In thelocation-status map 201 of FIG. 4, for example, an administrator mighttake a particular action with respect to the data points 203 in region205-2 while taking no action or a different action with respect to thedata points 203 in region 205-1 even though data points in both regions205 may indicate behavior that is “out of normal.”

In conjunction with the ability to convey x-y coordinate information, atleast some embodiments of the information handling system platform 100of FIG. 1 beneficially includes features for determining relative x-ycoordinates of group members within a server group 110 or within anyother suitable identifiable collection of servers or other systems.

In an embodiment represented in FIG. 5, FIG. 6, AND FIG. 7, the groupmembers 101 within a group segment 112 of the server group 110illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 may be configured to determine relativelocation information using link level hardware and/or link levelsignaling. The illustration of group segment 112 represented in FIG. 5emphasizes a link level connection 150 among the group members 101within group segment 112.

In at least one embodiment, one or more individual group members 101within group segment 112 include a proximity determination module 152configured to determine proximity based upon one or more indirectmeasures of proximity that may be apparent to or detected by groupmembers 101 within a particular group segment 112. The link levelconnection 150 may represent a local area network (LAN) to which each ofthe group segment group members 101 are directly connected, e.g., thegroup members 101 that have unique network addresses on local link 150.Alternatively, the local link connection 150 illustrated in FIG. 5 mayrepresent a wireless link that encompasses group members 101 connectedto a common wireless access point not explicitly depicted in FIG. 5.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 illustrate tables of proximity information that may bedetermined by one or more of the group members 101 within a particulargroup segment 112. The table 160 illustrated in FIG. 6 indicates a pingresponse time for every combination of group members represented in thehorizontal and vertical axes. Although FIG. 6 illustrates just threegroup members 101 (A, B, and C), it will be readily appreciated thattable 160 may include substantially any number of group members.

The table 160 of ping response times between the indicated pairs ofgroup members may be determined by two or more of the group members 101acting in a coordinated fashion to provide the applicable ping responsetime data, or any other suitable proximity parameter. In at least oneembodiment, each group member 101 may include functionality to identifyother group members 101 within its server group 110 and to initiate aping with respect to any one or more of the other group members. In oneembodiment, each group member 101 of a server group 110 may ping eachother group member such that, for any pair of group members 101, atleast two measurements of the proximity between them is generated. Otherembodiments may attempt to determine proximity based upon a singlemeasurement of ping response or other parameter for each unique pair ofgroup members 101.

At a link local level, ping response time may provide a suitablyaccurate measure of proximity, which may be used to resolve the relativelocations of group members 101 within a group segment 112. This abilitymay extend to other facilities or resources that may be leveraged fordetermining or indicating proximity between group members within servergroup 110. Other capabilities may include, as examples, GPS capabilitiesthat one or more group members 101 may include, although GPS featuresmay be of no or limited use with respect to group members 101 that arelocated indoors, i.e., group members that do not have line of sight withorbiting GPS satellites.

FIG. 7 illustrates a table 170 of proximity information corresponding toa Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) signal associated with a wireless accesspoint with which each of the applicable group members A, B, and C maycommunicate. Whereas the ping response time indicated in table 160 ofFIG. 6 was reported as a value, in milliseconds, the BLE signal strengthrepresented in table 170 has been quantized or categorized into one of aset of values that includes “near” and “immediate.”

Using the proximity information inherent in the ping response times oftable 160 or other BLE signal strengths in table 170, proximitydetermination modules 152 may be able to resolve x-y coordinateinformation suitable for use in conjunction with a location-status map201 such as depicted in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. In some embodiments, two ormore proximity parameters may be used in combination by proximitydetermination modules 152 to better determine x-y coordinates of theapplicable group members. The BLE signal strength indicated in table 170of FIG. 7, as an example, may be used to interpret or refine informationobtained from table 160 of FIG. 6. Where table 160 indicatessubstantially the same ping-based proximity, 1 ms, between group memberB and group member A, table 170 of FIG. 7 indicates that group members Band C are closer together than group members B and A based on BLE signalstrength. By iterating thru the relative location information for allgroup members, x and y coordinates suitable for use in constructinglocation-status maps such as the location-status maps 201 illustrated inFIG. 3 and FIG. 4 may be determined.

Illustrating this process using the example data in table 160 of FIG. 6and table 170 of FIG. 7 for a hypothetical three-member group comprisingsystems A, B, and C, such a process might begin by examining andcomparing the entries in “row A” of each table. The data in columns Band C of Row A in table 160 indicates that the distance between systemsA and B is less than the distance between systems B and C, based on the1 ms ping response time between systems A and B versus the 2 ms pingresponse time between systems A and C. This conclusion is supported whenthe entries in columns B and C of row A in table 170 of FIG. 7 arecompared, where system B has an “immediate” signal strength relative tosystem A and system C has a “Near” signal strength relative to system A.

The process may then determine that system A is furthest from system Cbased on a comparison of columns A and B of row C in tables 160 and 170,indicating that, with respect to system C, system A has the weaker BLEsignal strength (near vs. Near) and the slower ping response time (2msv. 1ms). From this information, the process may then recognize thatsystem B is the closest system to system C and this conclusion may besupported based on system B′s shortest ping response time and BLE signalstrength. In this example, based on a set of six computationally trivialcomparisons, the process has resolved that AB<BC<AC where AB representsthe distance between systems A and B, etc.

The process could then begin to create an x-y map by arbitrarilyassigning one of the systems, e.g., system A, to the x-y origin or toanother fixed coordinate pair. A first circle may then be drawn aroundthe origin system to represent the possible positions of one of theother two systems, e.g., system B, where the radius of the circle isestimated based upon the ping response time, the BLE signal strength, ora combination thereof. Using a radius of 1 unit for 1 ms of pingresponse time, the system B circle would have a radius of 1 and thesystem C circle would have a radius of 2. To account for various sourcesof error and/or distortion, a pair of circles might be drawn for eachsystem, one with a radius of R+d and a second with a radius of R−d,where R reflects the ping/BLE-based radius estimation and d representsan error margin. Using this approach, the resulting set of possibleposition of system B relative to system A resembles a Saturn-like ringof thickness 2*d at a median radius of 1 with system A at its center. Asimilar ring can then be drawn for system C where the system C ring hasa greater radius and may, depending on the model used, have a greatervalue of d, the error margin, than the error value for system B. Whenthis process or an analogous process is scaled to accommodate a largernumber of systems and iterated thru each system-pair combination, a setof relative physical x/y locations may be generated.

In the context of a server group 110, proximity determination modules152 may be invoked by group manager 111 executing a program forresolving x-y coordinate data. Such a program may store x-y coordinatedata in a corresponding data structure for use in conjunction withhealth parameter information.

FIG. 8 illustrates a method 180 for managing a group of informationhandling systems 101 suitable for use as group members 101 of a servergroup 110.

The illustrated method 180, which may represent operations performed bygroup manager 111 (FIG. 1), remote management resource 120 (FIG. 1) orby another suitable resource or combination of resources, includesreceiving (operation 182) health status data from servers or otherinformation handling systems in a server group 110. The health statusdata may include, as previously suggested, data associated with orindicative of a thermal/temperature parameter, an electrical parametersuch as a power, current, voltage, or impedance, or capacitanceparameter, or functional or performance parameter. As examples of thelatter, embodiments of method 180 may receive health status dataindicating a network latency or delay associated with the applicablegroup member, an error rate associated with a group member, an availablebandwidth or processing capability, and so forth.

The method 180 illustrated in FIG. 8 further includes obtaining(operation 184) location data indicative of server location relative toone or more other servers in the server group. As discussed above withrespect to FIGS. 5, 6, and 7, location data may be determined using alocal link connection in conjunction with proximity determinationtechniques that provide direct or indirect determinations of proximityor physical distance. In addition, local link proximity data may besupplemented with other types of location data including GPS data whereapplicable, user provided information including, as an example,implementations of a group manager resource and/or a remote managementresource that enable users to indicate values for one or more locationposition parameters.

The method 180 illustrated in FIG. 8 further includes performing(operation 186) one or more location-status operations that convey orare influenced by a relationship between health status and location ofan information handling system within a server group or anothercollection of multiple information handling systems. The generation of alocation-status map such as the location-status maps 201 of FIG. 3 andFIG. 4 represent a locations-status operation that may be included inmethod 180.

Location-status operations may also include processing informationprovided via snapshots 121 (FIG. 1) to collect data that can be consumedfor failure heuristics. For example, group manager 111 may respond toreceiving or otherwise detecting (block 188) a change in the healthparameter status of any one or more systems with respect to any one ormore health parameters monitored. Status changes may include, any changefrom previous snapshot, including the following status changes forimplementations that employ three states, GREEN, YELLOW, and RED, for aparticular health parameter: YELLOW-to-GREEN, GREEN-to-YELLOW,RED-to-YELLOW, YELLOW-to-RED, RED-to-UNAVAILABLE, YELLOW-to-UNAVAILABLE,and UNAVAILABLE-to-AVAILABLE.

Upon detecting a status change, a server may collect time stamp, serveridentifier, system health status, encompassing multiple health statusattributes, voltage consumption information encompassing multiple powerconsumption components, and thermal statistics encompassing multiplethermal parameters. The module may further maintain a binary indicatorof whether a change in health status is positive, e.g., RED-to-YELLOW orYELLOW-to-GREEN or negative GREEN-to-YELLOW, YELLOW-to-RED.

The binary health status change indicator may be used as a targetvariable for predictive heuristics. A decision tree method may then beapplied (block 190) to make predictions regarding system health statusattributes including voltage consumption attributes, or thermal levelattributes using the binary indicator as a predictor.

In at least one embodiment, preprocessed information from a plurality ofserver groups 110 may be consolidated (block 192) to form group-of-group(GoG) data that may be harvested, e.g., by a cloud-based mastercomponent. By representing a wider set of data samples, the GoG data maybeneficially produce better heuristics and more accurate failurepredictions. In addition, the GoG data may be made available to adedicated and powerful server to support computationally intensivelearning, classification, and regression techniques such as randomdecision forests.

FIG. 9 illustrates elements of an information handling system 900 thatmay be suitable for use as group member 101 or another server 111illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. The information handling system 900illustrated in FIG. 9 includes one or more general-purpose processors901 coupled to a bridge/memory controller 903. Bridge/memory controller903 controls a memory 905 and communicates with an I/O hub 910. The I/Ohub 910 of the information handling system 900 illustrated in FIG. 9supports a diverse set of I/O controllers and adapters.

The I/O hub 910 of FIG. 9 includes a USB controller 912 for high-speedserial communication, a PCI controller 914 for communication with PCIdevices, and a low bandwidth controller 916 for providing low bandwidthprotocols including, as examples, LPC, SPI, and I2C. A WLAN controller918 provides support for various local and personal area networkprotocols including, as non-limiting examples, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, andZigbee while a WWAN controller 920 provides support for GSM and/or CDMAcommunication. The information handling system 900 of FIG. 9 furtherincludes a storage adapter 922 that supports one or more mass storageprotocols including, as examples, SCSI, SATA, and NVMe. Any of theelements shown in FIG. 9 may encompass two or more distinct controllersor adapters. Conversely, any group of two or more elements shownseparately in FIG. 9 may be integrated within a single semiconductordevice, chip set, or printed circuit board.

Although the information handling system 900 of FIGURE does notexpressly indicate conventional human I/O adapters and controllersincluding video/graphics adapters, keyboard, mouse, and touchpadcontrollers, microphone and speaker transducers, or an audio codec,other embodiments of information handling system 900 may include any orall of these elements.

As used herein, when two or more elements are referred to as “coupled”to one another, such term indicates that such two or more elements arein electronic communication or mechanical communication, as applicable,whether connected indirectly or directly, with or without interveningelements.

This disclosure encompasses all changes, substitutions, variations,alterations, and modifications to the example embodiments herein that aperson having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend. Similarly,where appropriate, the appended claims encompass all changes,substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications to the exampleembodiments herein that a person having ordinary skill in the art wouldcomprehend. Moreover, reference in the appended claims to an apparatusor system or a component of an apparatus or system being adapted to,arranged to, capable of, configured to, enabled to, operable to, oroperative to perform a particular function encompasses that apparatus,system, or component, whether or not it or that particular function isactivated, turned on, or unlocked, as long as that apparatus, system, orcomponent is so adapted, arranged, capable, configured, enabled,operable, or operative.

All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended forpedagogical objects to aid the reader in understanding the disclosureand the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, andare construed as being without limitation to such specifically recitedexamples and conditions. Although embodiments of the present disclosurehave been described in detail, it should be understood that variouschanges, substitutions, and alterations could be made hereto withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of managing group members of a servergroup comprising a plurality of information handling systems, the methodcomprising: receiving, from the group members, health status dataindicative of a status with respect to a particular health parameter;obtaining location data indicative of relative locations of the groupmembers; and performing a group operation in accordance with the healthstatus data and location data, wherein the group operation conveys ordepends upon a relationship between the health status data and thelocation data.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the group operationincludes generating a location-status display including, for each of thegroup members, a data point indicating a status for a particular healthparameter and a location relative to other group members.
 3. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: generating and recording, from time totime, group snapshots indicative of the health status data and locationdata of the server group.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:monitoring for a status change corresponding to a change of healthparameter status of a group member; and maintaining status changeinformation including information indicative of whether the statuschange was positive or negative; and predicting a next change of statuschange indicator based on the status change information and a currentstate of the group member.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the healthstatus data comprises sensor data received from a sensor.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein the sensor is selected from a group of sensorscomprising: an environmental sensor, an electrical sensor, and amechanical sensor.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the environmentalsensor is selected from: a thermal sensor, a pressure sensor, and ahumidity sensor.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the location datacomprises link local proximity information obtained via a link localconnection.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the link local proximityinformation is indicative of a ping response time between two groupmembers.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the link local proximityinformation is indicative of a signal strength of a wireless signal froma wireless access point.
 11. An information handling system, comprising:a processor; and a computer readable medium, coupled to the processor,including processor executable instructions that, when executed, causethe processor to perform operations including: receiving, from groupmembers, health status data indicative of a status with respect to aparticular health parameter; obtaining location data indicative ofrelative locations of the group members; and performing a groupoperation in accordance with the health status data and location data,wherein the group operation conveys or depends upon a relationshipbetween the health status data and the location data.
 12. Theinformation handling system of claim 11, wherein the group operationincludes generating a location-status display including, for each of thegroup members, a data point indicating a status for a particular healthparameter and a location relative to other group members.
 13. Theinformation handling system of claim 12, wherein generating thelocation-status display includes: accessing distance-proxy dataindicative of member-pair distances for a plurality of member-pairs,wherein each member-pair distance is associated with a distance betweena particular pair of group members; comparing distance-proxy data for afirst member-pair, comprising a first group member and second groupmember and a second member-pair, comprising the first group member and athird group member; determining relative distances among the first,second, and third group members; iterating said comparing for each of aplurality of member-pairs, the plurality of member-pairs including eachmember pair permutation for which distance-proxy data is available; anddetermining relative distances among each of the group members for whichdistance-proxy data is available.
 14. The information handling system ofclaim 13, wherein the operations include: monitoring the server groupfor a status change corresponding to a change of health parameter statusof a group member; responsive to detecting a status change associatedwith a group member, recording status change information indicative of astatus of the group member when the status change occurred; anddetermining a next status change based on the status change information.15. The information handling system of claim 14, wherein recordingstatus change information includes recording a binary status changeindicator indicative of whether the status change was positive ornegative and wherein determining the next status change comprisesdetermining the next binary status change indicator.
 16. A computerreadable storage medium, comprising processor executable instructionsthat, when executed, cause a processor to perform operations including:receiving, from server group members, health status data indicative of astatus with respect to a particular health parameter; obtaining locationdata indicative of relative locations of the group members; andperforming a group operation in accordance with the health status dataand location data, wherein the group operation conveys or depends upon arelationship between the health status data and the location data. 17.The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the group operationincludes generating a location-status display including, for each of thegroup members, a data point indicating a status for a particular healthparameter and a location relative to other group members.
 18. Thecomputer readable medium of claim 16, further comprising: generating andrecording, from time to time, group snapshots indicative of the healthstatus data and location data of the server group.
 19. The computerreadable medium of claim 18, wherein the operations include: monitoringthe server group for a status change corresponding to a change of healthparameter status of a group member; responsive to detecting a statuschange associated with a group member, recording status changeinformation indicative of a status of the group member when the statuschange occurred; and determining a next status change based on thestatus change information.
 20. The computer readable medium of claim 19,wherein recording status change information includes recording a binarystatus change indicator indicative of whether the status change waspositive or negative and wherein determining the next status changecomprises determining the next binary status change indicator.